What in the heck was I thinking

I think that I woke up one morning and thought to myself, "self, what would be the craziest thing I could possibly do today"? Hey I know, I will drive to Arizona with all 5 kids and no husband. That sounds awesome!!!! What in the crud was I thinking??? Can you say pure hell. I think anything that couldve gone wrong did. My sweet hubby who is studying for the bar woke up early and took the car to get an oil change and get some snacks for the car and fill the ice chest with drinks. I was all ready to go when he got home, so we loaded up, I did some last minute things and we were ready to go. I got in the car and went to start it...and NOTHING. Bill left it on when he was setting up the TV screens and it drained the batteries. In case I havent mentioned how much I hate my driveway, this is another prime example. Bill had to coast it down the snowy, Icy path over the big ice stump and what do you know-it gets stuck. We are literally blocking the entire street. We waited for the next car to come so we could get a jump. After all that, I was FINALLY on my way. The kids were great for the first 30 minutes or so until one had to go to the bathroom, Avery was screaming, and they were fighting over what movie to watch first. I didnt realize how hard it was to try to meet everyones needs and not being able to do anything about it. Needless to say, we stopped about 8 times just on the way to Kanab. For some odd reason, all the kids started coughing and noses were running all over the place. (I credit that to the lovely ER a couple nights before) Avery didnt stop screaming the last hour of the trip, and Tyson was about to have an asthma attack because he was coughing so hard. We finally got to the hotel in Kanab, ate dinner and lounged for a while. The kids had so much pent up energy, they were literally bouncing off the walls. I gave them all a bath and during Averys, she stood up and tumbled over the bathtub onto the hard bathroom floor. Her nose and mouth were pouring out blood. Yea... another night in the ER with all the kids? Thankfully no. Her nose kept bleeding and Im pretty sure she ripped that thing that goes from the top of your lip inside to the gums by your two front teeth. Poor thing was so miserable, i could tell she was in pain. I gave her some Tylanol and she fell asleep. The only thing was, besides not having a crib for Avery, the kids didnt want to sleep. Trying to keep Avery asleep and the kids quiet was not working-she was up and down so much that by the time they all did fall asleep, she was wide awake and NOT HAPPY. I have never tried so hard to put her to sleep, but its kinda hard with all the kids taking turns having coughing fits, grinding their teeth, and talking(screaming) in their sleep (that was Lani). She didnt go to sleep until 4:30. The only light spot in this was that Tyson woke up at about 2 and decided to pee all over the front door and carpet (which he thought was the toilet). Me and Avery did a little early morning cleanup!!!! The kids were awake by 8. After a shower, we ate breakfast and headed out for another fun 6 hour drive. By this time Avery was so tired and cranky and not feeling good at all. I stopped at the store and picked up some medicine. This is so bad, but I thought that if I got the nighttime one, than it would knock them all out. Nope. It only made Avery more cranky becasue she was soooo tired and couldnt sleep in her carseat. Who could with the kids screaming that they cant see the TV's, or that they want another game for the leapster or a drink or the bathroom or a snack or what have you. Thanks to massive amounts of caffine we finally arrived at my parents house (7 hours,a pair of peed in pants, a sick baby, a tired mommy and 5 hungry kids later).

Whew, what a novel. That felt good. Complaining aside, they really were good kids and very helpful when I really needed it. I am so happy to be here where the sun shines and where family and friends are. The kids are so excited to play outside and maybe go to the zoo and go to parks and have picnics. We really miss Bill (and Caleb misses hammie) and wish he was here. Have a good week of studying honey. Enjoy the quiet while it lasts!!!

Now the ride home will be a different story-we are driving straight through-12 hours. YIKES

My last two posts ive noticed have been venting ones. I will end this one on a good note. Im choosing to look at the bright side of this road trip. We had no throwups, no poopy diapers, no driving tickets, I got to listen to MY music the whole time while the kids watched their movies, I drank pop the ENTIRE time ( for the caffine only of course :) and the best...I didnt have to hear any backseat driving from the hubby!!! (love ya babe)

So Happy to be here